It's been a long time since I was here. I bet some of you had started wondering whether you'd ever see me re-appear. Oh ye of little faith.
February to June. Four months. More than four months now, actually. It's been a four months in which remarkable things have happened. I've been rained on and shined on. People I knew and loved have passed away, leaving the world a poorer place. I've had another birthday and am now older than I ever really expected to be.
I've seen places that I'd only ever heard about before. I no more expected to have stood in front of the Brandenburg Gate, and touched the remains of the Berlin Wall, than I had to have seen the bottom of Africa! Strange days indeed.
Although both Cape Town and Berlin are wonderful places to see, I had a weekend trip to a town that I didn't expect to see again so soon. Stepping off the train that day set my nerves a-jangling and I'm not sure that I could have done it at all, if not for the steadfast figure at my side. Despite the sad circumstances, it turned into a joy to see so many old friends again and to be able to introduce them to my Pretty Lady.
Who knows what the rest of 2012 might bring? Not I. It's like to be any other year you could name - laughter and tears, good things and bad. Hopefully the laughter and the good things will outnumber the tears and the bad.
